Forensic medical examination of alcohol-attributable mortality in Saint Petersburg

Abstract

This article presents an analytical material on the relationship of alcohol consumption and mortality in St. Petersburg for the period 2015-2017 years, which is based on the data of the city Bureau of forensic medical examination. The analysis of deaths found that the problem of abuse of alcoholic beverages (including ethanol containing) remains relevant, as indicated by the high (up to 30%) frequency of detection of acute ethanol poisoning in forensic examination of corpses. We found that ethanol poisoning in the structure of poisoning occupy the second place, while drug poisoning (opiates, cannabioids, cocaine) confidently and by a large margin occupy the first place. However, more than 75% of those who died from acute drug poisoning had alcohol in their blood. In cases where the death was violent, alcohol was found in the blood of more than 60% of the victims. High rates of alcohol intoxication were found in cases of death from low temperatures and mechanical asphyxia (hanging). About 25% of the victims of road accidents (pedestrians, drivers, passengers) were intoxicated. Our study showed no dynamics of reducing the frequency of alcohol intoxication and in cases where death occurs from diseases. When comparing certain types of non-violent death, it was found that most often the state of alcoholic intoxication accompanied (was the background) in cases of death from diseases of the digestive system: hemorrhagic pancreatitis, cirrhosis, gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer, varicose veins of the esophagus (in 24-53% of cases), somewhat less – in diseases of the cardiovascular system (in 25-29% of cases).